Some famous cars are babied from the day they are born. Others are driven, then abandoned, only to be rediscovered and made beautiful again.

Over the summer, we came across a stunning 1928 Auburn that fell in the latter category.

It was born as a car of the motoring elite and 30 years later, was languishing in a field in Idaho. The indignity wasn't over. One owner cut holes in hood, hoping to drop in a giant 12-cylinder engine and make it a hot rod.

By the time it came to Karen and Barrie Hutchinson of Greenbank, Wash., the car was in boxes. But the birthday gift to Karen was about to see some of its best days. Barrie spent 1,000 hours trying to figure out how all the parts in the boxes fit together, ordering new ones or fabricating the ones he couldn't find anywehre else.

The result certainly seems to have made the sweat equity worth it. The car was chosen for display for the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.

"It wasn't hard, but it was tedious," Barrie says. "Lots of little things that needed attention and got attention."